‘Luck always seems to be against those who depend on it.’

THIS IS A lucky country. The challenge is to keep it lucky, and the danger is that thinking we are fortunate may make us complacent about real and ever present vulnerabilities. Avoiding the worst of the global economic crisis of 2008-09 reinforced Australia’s sense of providence – waiting for the recession, it turned out, was a bit like waiting for Godot. By early 2010 it appeared that unemployment had peaked and Australia had outperformed the rest of the developed world.